Ask Me: How To Organise and Decorate Your Locker

Tired of messy lockers? Exasperated with that shower of paper you get whenever you open that creaky metal door? Fear no more, locker-organisation day is here to help!
Note: I just made that day up. Hehe. *blush*

Here are my tips for a neat and organised locker:

1. Get locker shelves. Get one each for "Take Home" items, notebooks and stationery, textbooks, and binders. If you have a smaller locker, put "Take Home" items, notebooks and stationery into one shelf and then get a shelf each for textbooks and binders. If you really have a spacious locker, get one shelf for each subject. 
2. Get a dry-erase whiteboard. Let's face it, post-it notes are only helpful when they stay on your locker door. With all those bags being shoved in and taken out, plus all those doors being slammed shut, they just don't have enough sticking power. Get a dry-erase whiteboard and attach magnets to the back so you can stick it to the wall. Don't have a metal locker? Use an adhesive hook, some tape and cord and you have yourself a whiteboard-hanger. The added advantage: Save paper!
3. Colour-coordinate items by subject. That moment when: you take the wrong notebook for your class! Say goodbye to days of running through the corridors to get the right notebook by colour-coordinating items by class. For example: blue for science, pink for maths and so on and so forth. Never take the wrong item again! 
4. Remember the rules. How are you going to keep your locker neat if you can't put things back in the right place? Make sure you aren't putting your English notebook where your French one lives. A solution? Label shelves with stickers. 
5. Use folders for those loose papers. These can also be colour-coordinated like the rest of your stuff. Bye bye, paper shower!
6. Put things into bags. School materials in school bag, PE stuff in a separate bag. Laptop in laptop sleeve and pencils in pencilcase. There! All tidied up! 
7. Emergency Kit: So I already talked about the basic girls emergency kit. Okay. Now how about one for school? Keep a pack of paper, a small binder or folder, a water bottle and a spare set of pencils and pens for when you forget something. Problemo solved. 

So now your locker is clean. But what about the decorating aspect? 

1. Inspirational quotes: You can print these online and stick them onto the door with blue-tack. 
2. Mirror: Attach a magnet to the back and stick to the locker door. You will never have to go to the bathroom for a touch-up again! Yay! 
3. Photos: Take a piece of ribbon and pull taut. Then stick to the locker door. You can now clip photos of family and friends to the ribbon using mini-clothes pins or paper clips. 
4. Use the magnets: You can buy cool magnets at most DIY stores, or you can make your own. Express your personality through the magnets. 
5. What's the theme? Deciding on a theme is a great idea for your locker. 
1. Glam divas can add a mini disco-ball, mirrors and pictures of hollywood celebrities. Use an old feather boa as trim for locker shelves!
2. Sporty chicks can stick up pictures of famous athletes and put their old trophies onto the shelves. 
3. The pink princess can stick up wallpaper and add rhinestones onto the walls. Bling bling!
4. Rock star? Add pictures of your favourite rock band onto the door and a mirror in the shape of a guitar or microphone. 
6. Go all out glam with the markers: If your locker is painted on the inside, you can write on it with dry-erase whiteboard markers (hint: this helps if there's no space for a whiteboard). Test the markers in a little corner first, and if it erases, you can write all you want! Keep a few wet wipes and markers inside and you're all set. 

Have fun with the decorating, but before you do anything, check your school rule-book. You don't want to end up in the headmistress's office because of an inappropriately-decorated locker!

Good luck.